The biggest stars of the last twenty years that showed up were, obviously, The Rock, Mick Foley (accepting his Hall of Fame induction), and Ric Flair (as part of the MizTV segment). At the end of the show we were given Mike Rotunda, Jamie Noble, Dave Finlay and Arn Anderson to break up the fight between CM Punk and The Rock. Booker T was there, too, for what it was worth. I was hoping for Max Moon ad Damien Demento.
Others that were expected included Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. I have a feeling that Wrestlemania is a much bigger priority and the latter three will be involved somehow with that, so Raw wasn't half as important in comparison. I wasn't disappointed that they didn't show - I would have loved it but I understand there's a bigger picture in the next three months.
As I said at the start, I felt that this show was good. There were some good segments that were positives for the future. The Shield shared time in the ring with Mick Foley (about to deliver a speech regarding his Hall of Fame induction), although this time was a few seconds before Ryback and co. came and made the save, it was still nice that The Shield can interrupt anyone - fellow superstars or even Hall of Famers.
As stupid and comedic as the Ric Flair/Miz/MizTV part was, again I felt it was good for Miz and Cesaro to have that interaction with the sixteen-time World's Champion. Ric Flair was going to be on this show so who should he have 'given the rub to' instead? With the amount of ring time that Miz has had lately, he could do with any pat on the back that he can get from returning legends.
Another positive that I'll take from this Raw was the encounter between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton. I fully expected the usual Orton win (as he's a World Title contender and Barrett is the mid card Champion) but to my surprise, Barrett pulled out the clean win. As much of a surprise as this was, it also made sense; Barrett could do with a big scalp like this to contribute to a strong IC Title run. It won't hurt Orton at all at this stage. Yes, he wants to be World Champion again, but that's not going to happen anytime soon - firstly, he NEEDS the rumoured heel turn. I can see this happening at the expense of Sheamus (maybe at the Rumble?), and then maybe we can talk about World Title expectations. So from now until the Rumble (or whenever they hope to achieve a heel turn), it really doesn't matter who they job him out to.
Alberto Del Rio continues to grip my attention. It's really refreshing to see him, with the World Title, and against Big Show. In the last few months, it's seemed that Smackdown only had two stars - Show and Sheamus - but since his face turn, Del Rio has a new lease of life. This is a side of him that we haven't seen before. It looks as though he has a Mexican version of Daniel Bryan's chant on his hands, too (Si! Si! Si! Si! Si!). After the spoiler of him winning the World Title last week, I was apprehensive as to how they were going to pull this off and make it look believable. After watching it for myself, I found myself enthralled in this match - I believed.
The opening segment of Raw involved Del Rio and Big Show setting up the rematch at the Rumble. It was also nice to see that they started the show with the boss (Vince) and the longest serving (full time) active member of Raw (Show). Even though this is the case, Vince still wanted to be called 'Mr McMahon'! I remember Vince telling Show off at Wrestlemania 15 and that ended very differently that night.
There was a Steel Cage match between John Cena and Dolph Ziggler. This had the usual outcome of a Cena win. As great as these two have been the last couple of months, this feud now needs to end. I know there are people that believe that wins and losses don't mean anything, but Ziggler cannot keep losing to SuperCena. Instead of him becoming a credible threat, Ziggler is constantly being put in his place - beneath Cena. It makes no sense to have a feud this one sided. The only time Ziggler has been victorious is because AJ messed it up for Cena. Apart from this, Cena has kicked out of Ziggler's best moves EVERY week.
Best of the rest;
- Obviously, there was the 'Rock Concert'. This is reduced to a bullet point as it was just Rock being his usual jokey self. The Paul Heyman song didn't really do it for me but the Vickie Guerrero 'Horrible Tonight' tribute was pretty funny. It was nice to have a brawl at the end as these guys can't keep having epic promos every week. I like how Rock keeps counting the days down in his promos, telling Punk 'time's up'. It's good that people KNOW when the pay-per-view is due to simple plugging.
- Kane and Daniel Bryan provided the top comedy moments of the night. This edition of Raw saw the return of Dr Shelby for their four month assessment. This broke down when he brought Cody and Damien in to 'test' Kane/DB; Shelby getting Kane/DB to 'get' Cody/Damien when he couldn't contain his own anger! Looking forward to the Tag Title match at the Rumble as we should now get new (and deserving) champions.
- Diva's Championship finally changed hands after a four month rivalry. This was a change that was definitely happening as it was reported that Eve was 'retiring' from wrestling/WWE. Maybe this forced WWE's hand in giving the title to Kaitlyn. Either way, hopefully we'll get some new women coming up from the ranks/NXT and we'll have some matches that'll catch the attention. This division is at an all time low so the only way is up.
- I think I'm being very hopeful if I think there's a chance that Brodus Clay will go down the route of being a '400lb Monster' anytime in the future. Fingers crossed. Keep the Funkadactyls about though...
- ALWAYS good to see two legends from when I was a kid - The Rock and Sock Connection in fine form. Foley copying Rock's catchphrases as in 1999/2000. Great line when Foley replied to Rock's 'Trust me'; 'You Rock Bottomed me last year?' - Rock blew this off with a very true statement about today's fan's memories; 'Nobody remembers that!'.
- Special shout out for one of the 20th Anniversary's flashbacks - Stuttering Goldust! I remember absolutely pissing myself at them skits with him in. Dustin Runnels, you legend!
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